Will we ever own software again??
So I opened up my Google personalized home page this morning and noticed some of the Google News headlines were about a new Google product called Google Spreadsheets. After reading some posts below the article, I discovered they also have a product called Writely (an online word processor). This got me to thinking.... this model really works. Google creates well designed online products that can be used within your web browser from virtually any computer in the world. Then they sell advertising that shows up while you use the product to pay for their development.
Here are some reasons I think this model is great:- They can update the product in real time (transparent to the user)
- They can create cross-platform products without different code bases
- You documents are saved online, so you never have to carry a floppy, writable CD or USB Key to store your data
- There is no need to install the product (less work for Sys Admins like me!)
- Because the products are web based, collaboration (expecially with other Google users) comes naturally
- They're free to the masses!
- They compete with Microsoft
- Although Google's privacy statement is currently pretty safe, if someone were to buy out Google in the future, this could change.
- If you're a conspiracy theorist, you probably expect Google is a government agency gathering information from the masses.
- If you lose data from these types of apps, who knows if it is possible to get the data back (maybe we need GoogleBackup!)
- Google could become the next Microsoft (they're already buying up lots of other company's products like Sketchup, Google Earth, Blogger, and Picassa)
I have yet to try either Google Spreadsheets or Writely, but I have signed up to try the two products. Hopefully they're as promising as they sound! For now, I'll attach some screenshots stolen from other web sites. If you're interested in following Google's progress with their applications, check out Google Labs. Who knows, maybe one day we'll be running an operating system created by Google!
And one final note: My Blog is not intended to be an advertisement for Google :) It just turns out that way sometimes.
posted by Dean @ 8:23 AM
4 comments
links to this post
4 Comments:
WHAT?????????? WAY over my head :) hahahahah
so you read the ole Orsedog's blog do you? I'll remember that and have a bash dean moment! HA!
How are you doing my longtime friend?
Doing well :) Thanks for asking. Thanks for not bashing :)
Dean, this entry made me happy (probably happier than it should)... I think I would be a total geek if I let myself indulge in it, but up to this point I have kept it at bay. Reading your blog might change that, though!
On another note, I was surprised to find out you'd visited my blog! A good kind of surprised, of course. I still check Brenda's ever now and again... Although I am always deeply disappointed. haha
Yeah... I like to blog surf. That means I read a friend's blog, then I read their friends' blogs, then I read their friends' blogs.... and so on. Sometimes I find myself reading a blog and thinking to myself "Self, you don't know this person. Don't post!" :)
And yeah.... Bren doesn't blog. She's done the school year soon, so she may post come July 11 or so.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home